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A Treasury of Damon Runyon
Short stories featuring criminals and their molls in NYC and NJ, all told in a humorous fashion. Includes stories adapted to the musical "Guys and Dolls." Also includes several very short, humorous western stories, a couple of poems, one story with a sports focus, and one WWII story.
428 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1958
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About the author
Damon Runyon
226 books84 followersSuch volumes as
Guys and Dolls
(1931), the basis for a musical of the same name on Broadway, collect stories of known American writer Alfred Damon Runyon about the underworld of New York.
A family in Manhattan, Kansas, reared this newspaperman. His grandfather, a printer from New Jersey, relocated to Manhattan, Kansas in 1855, and his father edited his own newspaper in the town. In 1882, people forced father of Runyon forced to sell his newspaper, and the family moved westward. The family eventually settled in 1887 in Pueblo, Colorado, where Runyon spent the rest of his youth. He began to work in the newspaper trade under his father in Pueblo. People named a field, the repertory theater company, and a lake in his honor. He worked for various newspapers in the area of the Rocky Mountains and let stand a change in the spelling of his last name from "Runyan" to "Runyon."
In 1898, Runyon enlisted in the Army to fight in the Spanish-American War. The service assigned himto write for the Manila Freedom and Soldier's Letter.
He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde. The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted. He spun humorous tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Nathan Detroit," "Benny Southstreet," "Big Jule," "Harry the Horse," "Good Time Charley," "Dave the Dude," or "The Seldom Seen Kid." Runyon wrote these stories in a distinctive vernacular style: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.
Runyon was also a newspaperman. He wrote the lead article for UP on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidential inauguration in 1933.
Runyon died in New York City from throat cancer in late 1946, at age 66. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered from an airplane over Broadway in Manhattan by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker on December 18, 1946. The family plot of Damon Runyon is located at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY. After Runyon's death, his friend and fellow journalist, Walter Winchell, went on his radio program and appealed for contributions to help fight cancer, eventually establishing the “Damon Runyon Cancer Memorial Fund” to support scientific research into causes of, and prevention of cancer.
A family in Manhattan, Kansas, reared this newspaperman. His grandfather, a printer from New Jersey, relocated to Manhattan, Kansas in 1855, and his father edited his own newspaper in the town. In 1882, people forced father of Runyon forced to sell his newspaper, and the family moved westward. The family eventually settled in 1887 in Pueblo, Colorado, where Runyon spent the rest of his youth. He began to work in the newspaper trade under his father in Pueblo. People named a field, the repertory theater company, and a lake in his honor. He worked for various newspapers in the area of the Rocky Mountains and let stand a change in the spelling of his last name from "Runyan" to "Runyon."
In 1898, Runyon enlisted in the Army to fight in the Spanish-American War. The service assigned himto write for the Manila Freedom and Soldier's Letter.
He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To New Yorkers of his generation, a "Damon Runyon character" evoked a distinctive social type from the Brooklyn or Midtown demi-monde. The adjective "Runyonesque" refers to this type of character as well as to the type of situations and dialog that Runyon depicted. He spun humorous tales of gamblers, hustlers, actors, and gangsters, few of whom go by "square" names, preferring instead colorful monikers such as "Nathan Detroit," "Benny Southstreet," "Big Jule," "Harry the Horse," "Good Time Charley," "Dave the Dude," or "The Seldom Seen Kid." Runyon wrote these stories in a distinctive vernacular style: a mixture of formal speech and colorful slang, almost always in present tense, and always devoid of contractions.
Runyon was also a newspaperman. He wrote the lead article for UP on Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Presidential inauguration in 1933.
Runyon died in New York City from throat cancer in late 1946, at age 66. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered from an airplane over Broadway in Manhattan by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker on December 18, 1946. The family plot of Damon Runyon is located at Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, NY. After Runyon's death, his friend and fellow journalist, Walter Winchell, went on his radio program and appealed for contributions to help fight cancer, eventually establishing the “Damon Runyon Cancer Memorial Fund” to support scientific research into causes of, and prevention of cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 7, 2020
Damon Runyon!! These short stories have unmatched charm. The thinly disguised main characters of another era are Broadway habitues. They congregate at Lindy's and eat cheesecake and speak a language all their own. Lovable wiseguys based on people like Frank Costello (Dave The Dude) and Arnold Rothstein (The Brain) are portrayed with a sense of humor and having their own code of decency. I love it. It's all available on Kindle in a collection with a different name. Not expensive. It's a bargain!
November 13, 2013
One of my father’s favorite songs was “Ace in the Hole,” I believe written by Johnny Mercer, in the early 1940’s. It tells of those on the fringe of society during the Depression and thereabouts, specifically on Broadway in New York. I proudly sang it at Dad’s funeral. I reproduce it herein, in its entirety:
This town is full of guys who think they're mighty wise
Just because they know a thing or two
You can find them every day strolling up and down Broadway
Telling of the wonders they can do
There's con men and big boosters, card sharks and crap shooters
You’ll see them hangin’ ‘round the Metropole
They wear fancy ties and collars, but where they get their dollars
They all must have an ace in the hole
Some of them write to the old folks for coin
That's their old ace in the hole
While others have girls on the old Tenderloin,
That's their old ace in the hole
They'll tell you of trips that they are going to take
From Florida up to the old North Pole
But their names would be mud like a chump playing Stud
If they lost that old ace in the hole
They tell you of money that they’ve made and spent
But seldom ever show a big bankroll
And their names would be mud like a chump playing Stud
If they lost their old ace in the hole
Yes, their names would be mud like a chump playing Stud
If they lost that old ace down in the hole.
Dad was also a fan of Damon Runyon and regularly told me of the stories Mr. Runyon had written of “the characters in New York City.” But I never read any of them. This all is by way of introduction to this wonderful book, which I spied at a yard sale and immediately snatched up!
This truly is a “treasury,” for it includes many short stories of the above mentioned characters, including small-time mobsters (some with local notoriety), grifters, gold-diggers gamblers and prostitutes, among others, which society tends to ignore. All (well, almost all) of them have some quirky lovability. The anonymous narrator in the greater majority of these stories seems to know all of these characters, so is one of them, though his “connection” remains vague throughout. The book has a foreword which relates Mr. Runyon’s history as a newspaper reporter and columnist, very interesting and provides a background for the stories.
The first two in the first section, “Broadway Guys and Dolls,” are “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown: and “Pick the Winner,” about a streetwise well-dressed hood who falls for a Salvation Army girl and changes is ways. These were subsequently made into the play (and movie), “Guys and Dolls,” which still appears to be popular with the summer-stock and high-school theater crowds. Nonetheless, my favorite stories in this 24-story part of the anthology are “Johnny One-Eye” and “A Light in France.”
In addition, there is some poetry, notably a poetic homage to a Jockey referred to only as “Sande,” in several versions over several years. We also have a section on a New York working class couple, Joe and Ethel Turp, who tend to bicker in a friendly manner and get themselves into the dangdest predicaments. My favorite of these is “A Call on the President,” in which the couple actually visits the President after Joe writes to him to complain that their mailman was fired. These four stories are tongue in cheek, but at points make one laugh out loud.
Another section is purported reports from “My Home Town,” a small burg in the West, in which the narrator describes both the characters and small-town happenings with aplomb and drollery. My favorite of these nine stories is “The Shooting of Dude McCoy,” about a silly feud between men who ought to know better.
Another section concerns “My Old Man,” being descriptions of the narrator’s father, who is a working stiff who likes his alcohol and has strong opinions which get him into all kinds of scrapes.
It has taken me a long time to get through this book (started it in October of 2011), for I did wish to savor its contents. I highly recommend it for everyone, but I would admit its humor and context may be lost on some of the younger generations.
This town is full of guys who think they're mighty wise
Just because they know a thing or two
You can find them every day strolling up and down Broadway
Telling of the wonders they can do
There's con men and big boosters, card sharks and crap shooters
You’ll see them hangin’ ‘round the Metropole
They wear fancy ties and collars, but where they get their dollars
They all must have an ace in the hole
Some of them write to the old folks for coin
That's their old ace in the hole
While others have girls on the old Tenderloin,
That's their old ace in the hole
They'll tell you of trips that they are going to take
From Florida up to the old North Pole
But their names would be mud like a chump playing Stud
If they lost that old ace in the hole
They tell you of money that they’ve made and spent
But seldom ever show a big bankroll
And their names would be mud like a chump playing Stud
If they lost their old ace in the hole
Yes, their names would be mud like a chump playing Stud
If they lost that old ace down in the hole.
Dad was also a fan of Damon Runyon and regularly told me of the stories Mr. Runyon had written of “the characters in New York City.” But I never read any of them. This all is by way of introduction to this wonderful book, which I spied at a yard sale and immediately snatched up!
This truly is a “treasury,” for it includes many short stories of the above mentioned characters, including small-time mobsters (some with local notoriety), grifters, gold-diggers gamblers and prostitutes, among others, which society tends to ignore. All (well, almost all) of them have some quirky lovability. The anonymous narrator in the greater majority of these stories seems to know all of these characters, so is one of them, though his “connection” remains vague throughout. The book has a foreword which relates Mr. Runyon’s history as a newspaper reporter and columnist, very interesting and provides a background for the stories.
The first two in the first section, “Broadway Guys and Dolls,” are “The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown: and “Pick the Winner,” about a streetwise well-dressed hood who falls for a Salvation Army girl and changes is ways. These were subsequently made into the play (and movie), “Guys and Dolls,” which still appears to be popular with the summer-stock and high-school theater crowds. Nonetheless, my favorite stories in this 24-story part of the anthology are “Johnny One-Eye” and “A Light in France.”
In addition, there is some poetry, notably a poetic homage to a Jockey referred to only as “Sande,” in several versions over several years. We also have a section on a New York working class couple, Joe and Ethel Turp, who tend to bicker in a friendly manner and get themselves into the dangdest predicaments. My favorite of these is “A Call on the President,” in which the couple actually visits the President after Joe writes to him to complain that their mailman was fired. These four stories are tongue in cheek, but at points make one laugh out loud.
Another section is purported reports from “My Home Town,” a small burg in the West, in which the narrator describes both the characters and small-town happenings with aplomb and drollery. My favorite of these nine stories is “The Shooting of Dude McCoy,” about a silly feud between men who ought to know better.
Another section concerns “My Old Man,” being descriptions of the narrator’s father, who is a working stiff who likes his alcohol and has strong opinions which get him into all kinds of scrapes.
It has taken me a long time to get through this book (started it in October of 2011), for I did wish to savor its contents. I highly recommend it for everyone, but I would admit its humor and context may be lost on some of the younger generations.
May 22, 2011
Damon Runyon writes of the Broadway types of the 1930's, of guys and dolls, bookies, bootleggers, double-crossing sweethearts, race touts and more. A sample of his witty writing is "Hold 'Em Yale," where the narrator's friend is looking for a ticket scalper who cheated him. "In fact, the nearest Sam ever comes to a college is once when he is passing through the yard belonging to the Princetons, but Sam is on the fly at the time as a gendarme is after him, so he does not really see much of the college." Runyon is a forgotten genius, and I recommend him highly.
April 6, 2010
Always good stories with good characters from times when hoods were nice guys - someone must still like Runyon stories because Guys and Dolls always reappears on Broadway. The musical makes a come back, but you don't hear of many people described as "Romanesque" these days - not sure if it is because there aren't any or no one knows Damon Runyon any more.
September 18, 2012
An excellent collectiion of pieces and stories, all of which will be familiar to anyone with a knowledge of or interest in the works of Damon Runyon. So easy to dip into and pass an enjoyable five or ten minues...or an hour!
August 7, 2025
This is maybe the best all-around taste of Runyon out there. A little poetry, a lot of stories, a bit of the Turps, a little reporting, My Old Home Town, and a few of the last stories.
August 11, 2018
There was a time in the middle of this compilation that I began to tire of the style. And while the stories did not quite have the expectation one has while reading O. Henry, I found similarity in that the endings were often surprises conveyed in a single sentence or paragraph. Realizing this formula made the reading more enjoyable when interest lagged in the style.
It takes some getting used to the New York early 20th century criminal lingo, but there was consistency of characters that helped build continuity and yet a variety of story lines.
I almost gave this three stars only because of the uniqueness of the patois and similarity in some of the story plots. 3.5 stars is more like it for me.
But an enjoyable read.
It takes some getting used to the New York early 20th century criminal lingo, but there was consistency of characters that helped build continuity and yet a variety of story lines.
I almost gave this three stars only because of the uniqueness of the patois and similarity in some of the story plots. 3.5 stars is more like it for me.
But an enjoyable read.
June 4, 2018
The west lives in New York.
August 3, 2025
This edition was in print 1958 - 1968.
Short stories featuring criminals and their molls in NYC and NJ, all told in a humorous fashion. Includes stories adapted to the musical "Guys and Dolls." Also includes several very short, humorous western stories, a couple of poems, one story with a sports focus, and one WWII story.
Short stories featuring criminals and their molls in NYC and NJ, all told in a humorous fashion. Includes stories adapted to the musical "Guys and Dolls." Also includes several very short, humorous western stories, a couple of poems, one story with a sports focus, and one WWII story.
March 21, 2017
Meh. More like 2 1/2 stars.
The arrangement of this book is kind of off. You'd think that they'd put all the poems together. Instead there's a couple at the beginning and a couple at the end. I think the ones at the beginning were supposed to separate the stories that make up the basis for the Guys and Dolls musical from the other ones, but even then, it felt weird. There's also a separation of sections in the index but not the text itself. It made the thematic and stylistic changes towards the end jarring.
While I liked most of the stories towards the beginning, especially "Johnny One-Eye," toward the middle the stories started to blend together and feel dull. I honestly couldn't tell you what happened in the vast majority of these. Maybe because of how samey the Broadway stories are, they're better taken in one at a time rather than all at once. I couldn't get into most of the stories towards the end either. The Turp stories (about an older Brooklyn married couple) were cute, but I couldn't get into the stories based on Runyon's home town either. The longer, non-Broadway stories at the end felt like they came from an entirely different writer. I don't know if these were early works or what. They just felt stuck in there because they didn't fit anywhere else.
I thought the poems at the beginning were corny and lame but the poems towards the end were much more enjoyable.
Overall, I didn't really like this book much. I might give Runyon another chance, when I was able to get into the stories they were fun, but this one just didn't do it for me.
The arrangement of this book is kind of off. You'd think that they'd put all the poems together. Instead there's a couple at the beginning and a couple at the end. I think the ones at the beginning were supposed to separate the stories that make up the basis for the Guys and Dolls musical from the other ones, but even then, it felt weird. There's also a separation of sections in the index but not the text itself. It made the thematic and stylistic changes towards the end jarring.
While I liked most of the stories towards the beginning, especially "Johnny One-Eye," toward the middle the stories started to blend together and feel dull. I honestly couldn't tell you what happened in the vast majority of these. Maybe because of how samey the Broadway stories are, they're better taken in one at a time rather than all at once. I couldn't get into most of the stories towards the end either. The Turp stories (about an older Brooklyn married couple) were cute, but I couldn't get into the stories based on Runyon's home town either. The longer, non-Broadway stories at the end felt like they came from an entirely different writer. I don't know if these were early works or what. They just felt stuck in there because they didn't fit anywhere else.
I thought the poems at the beginning were corny and lame but the poems towards the end were much more enjoyable.
Overall, I didn't really like this book much. I might give Runyon another chance, when I was able to get into the stories they were fun, but this one just didn't do it for me.
February 20, 2025
Damon Runyon has been in print ever since 1910, and A Treasury of Damon Runyon was published in 1958. It includes 22 of his "Broadway" stories, including several that have been the springboard for movies such as "Guys and Dolls", "Little Miss Marker" and others. Some poems are included in this volume, along with four hilarious stories about a couple named Joe and Ethel Turp. Another section consists of stories set in the wild west.
I had a hard time putting this little book down, but the library sent me four more Damon Runyon books. Regretfully, I need to return them all, because I am not getting anything done while I immerse myself in the fascinating language of Broadway. I love reading these stories aloud, but I can't get anyone to listen to me.
I had a hard time putting this little book down, but the library sent me four more Damon Runyon books. Regretfully, I need to return them all, because I am not getting anything done while I immerse myself in the fascinating language of Broadway. I love reading these stories aloud, but I can't get anyone to listen to me.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews